The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1887-11-02

up for a'momcnt. At last the Sayan-
nah ''hefter'' made break for the |
dock, and, once upon it, sank down
upon Il pile of boards. H, was as
white rs q sheet and was covered with
scales from head to foot.
"Snnd for doctorr he gaspcd, as
the men crowded around.
"Why2 What's the matter with YOU
any way'"
eve had y stroke" whispered the
victim. 1.-The moment l stopped to
lift it. l felt it q runnin' al over me.
It's in our family; but rvc gotit bad"
and here lie rubbed his arms and legs.
1T Knocked me clean of. my fect," he
added, land my limbs felt like sticks.
Send" and here roar of laughter
broke from the men. and one of them,
Selling him by the arms, jerkcl him to
his feet
YOU'RE all right my lad; only next
time don't 60 fooling around old
Amos. He's hard mt.
"Herc's yer money, sonny" said
the old man, holding out u bill.
"Ycn've earned it.
'sWhat do you mean?" gasped the
athlete.
''What do you mean? Why. jest
this: Yer haven't had shock Of
paralysis. Yer tried to heft one of these
burned torpcdcrs. They'll knock q
mule down if yer gives 'em the
chance.
The athlete looked vacantly ahead,
took back his money and left amid the
renewed laughter Of the crowd.
Hell have yarn to tell the Savan-
nah folks" said the pcrpetrator Of the
joke. shut l do hate to hear man
blow and thought I'd take him down.
Injured? N, stree He'll feel stiff
for IN hour or 50, but it wont hurt
MIN. I've been struck by them one
! hupdred times, and it's no fun, can
tell yer. It's just like being struck by
!, mild stroke of lightning. don't
generally touch 'cm, but man gave
me one dollar to fetch one in, so kept
it in the boat They'll shock you right
through the net. When WIS a-haul-
ing in the tinker seine this morning l
knowcd l had shock-fsh from the
jerking of my arms. The shocks come
right up the wet cording so that some
times you can't hang on anyhow. I've
seen man who stuck ono with an iron
harpoon, thinking it y skate. knocked
down so quick. he didn't know what hit
him.
"You remember old Curt, that used
\ to do the chores around here ten years
ago? He lived on rum; he'd do any
thing for it. We'll, Perez Haldon put
UP big job on him once. He'd
had the jim-janns and he'd sworn of
any quantity of times, but always got
back again. He was just getting owe,
n spree when Perez came along with g
shock fish,. Old Curt hal mover seen
one before. SO Percc walks up ant
says: Curt. where can l get thi:
fish clcanedT What's 1t worth?
says Curt. Well, half a dollar,
reckon says Perez. .l'll draw it my.
SELF says the old niger. e, ahead,
says Perez, and tho old man fetched
out his big case knife and began, TIVE
or three of the boys gathering round
You amt so steady as I've seen you
Curt says Perez nearly burstin!
a-laughing. for as soon as the old maj
touched the fish his arm sho! out, 81
that the knife flew about three feet
He didn' say any thing, but picked til
knife up and jabbed it into the i!s
again. You'd have thought he wa
making passes like q sleight-of-han'
chap; his hands jer!lcd this way an
f that, and the sweat rollel down off hi
+ face lk, rain. At last he droppc
her, and sat right down on the gras
) and says: .Perce, give me somcthin
, to steady my nerves; I've got Eel
again Well, old Curt never hear
: the last of that, ANIL l never saw hi
O drink afterwards
n "What's the use of the shocks
G Why, l reckon they kill fish with c.
Z or drive 'cm off. )"
O. The latter assumption is probab
correct. The electric apparatus of I'll
i torpedo fish is it's defcns' ;, and is &C
a tainIy u good one. Its electric crgar
i have been compared to the volta
| Milo ond consist Cf two series of lave
n of hexagonal cells, tho into
O vening spaces between the plat
being filed with q tremblin
@ ielly-like substance, so that cat
J. cell can be compared TO the Leyd'
J., jar. Zach torpedo carries about A
If of these batteries, the whole beir
equal in power to about fifteen Leyd'
N jars. making $500 square inch
lie charged to the highest degree i
upper side of the fish is positive, tt
to lower negative. the shocks evident
- being entirely at the will OF t
o strange electrician. The torpedo
ie met with frequently along the Atlan'
lie coast, especially along the Gcors
it portion of it.
i, A naturalist once made some int
til csting experiments, one of which W
Il, the application of the telephone to
n torpedo, to see if the shock gave
ID audible sound. Such proved to be t
<, case, short, low creak accompar
a inc moderate excitement, the